SANFL fixture confirmed

Adelaide’s 2018 SANFL campaign will commence with a match against rivals Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval on Easter Saturday.

The Crows face reigning premiers Sturt at Peter Motley Oval the following week in the first of five Sunday games for the Club, as announced in the release of the SANFL Fixture on Saturday.

Adelaide will head to Elizabeth to face Central District in Round Four’s ANZAC Round, before playing its only Friday night game of the year when the Club takes on Norwood at Coopers Stadium in Round Five.

The second SANFL ‘Showdown’ takes place during Indigenous Round, when the Club will head approximately 150 kilometres northwest to Kadina. Adelaide and Port Adelaide previously played an AFL pre-season match in the Yorke Peninsula town in 2004.

The regional clash in Round 14 is also a broadcast match, one of seven Crows home and away SANFL games to be televised live and free on Channel Seven in South Australia.

Family Round will be held in Round Eight where the Crows will play West Adelaide in a broadcast match. Multicultural Month kicks off from Round Nine when Adelaide has its first SANFL bye.

The Crows will have two more breaks across the fixture’s split rounds, which take place in Round 12 and Round 17, making it three byes in total for all clubs across the SANFL season.

The final round of the home and away season, where Adelaide is to meet West Adelaide, will again be a ‘floating’ fixture for all clubs, with the days and venues of the Round 19 games to be announced later.

The Crows will feature heavily on Saturday afternoons, with 11 of the Club’s SANFL home and away matches to be played in the timeslot. Five Sunday clashes and one under lights on a Friday complete the Club’s fixture to Round 19.

Four of Adelaide’s seven broadcast games are in consecutive weeks from Round 13 through to Round 16, including the second SANFL ‘Showdown’.

The State Game between the SANFL and the WAFL will take place on Saturday, May 12, in between Round Six and Round Seven – with the match likely to be a curtain-raiser for the first AFL Showdown clash at Adelaide Oval.

The SANFL Finals Series will begin in the first weekend of September, with all finals matches to be played at Adelaide Oval. The Grand Final will take place on Sunday, September 23; a week before the AFL Grand Final on September 29.

The Crows will be looking to build on a 2017 season where they narrowly missed out on a finals berth, finishing in eight place on the ladder after claiming seven wins from their 18 home and away matches.

After the success of the inaugural season in 2017, the Women’s League has expanded with the addition of two teams, Sturt and South Adelaide next year. The Women’s League Grand Final will be played after the SANFL Anzac Day Grand Final rematch between Sturt and Port Adelaide.